recklessthings | 彡 cora hale

"So I could eat?" It's said bluntly, almost like a question, and she gives a bit of a shrug after. "I was on my own after the fire. I had to ... figure out how to get things for myself, and I didn't always like to steal."

"Oh." It's said sheepishly after a moment of consideration. Alek's always been a lone wolf, but it still seems... lonely to him. There's always been a difference. "I've never been to South America."

"Some parts of it are nice," she says with a nod. "Some of them are not. There's a hunter family there that pretty much controls everything from the border to La Iglesia so getting around them can be tough."

"You'll probably find this ironic, but werewolves are the ones in control in that region here," Alek says with a wry smile. Chicago really is one of the only place in this world where different species can all live in the same place. Everywhere else? You have to stake your claim. Vegas is demon central. Boston and New York angel central. Vampires and werewolves are not as powerful, but they have their territories."

She smirks a bit at that, before shaking her head. "The Calaveras would hate this place." Between falling through into another universe, being altered by the rifts themselves, and having the supernatural being more in control than they are? Their entire world view would be shattered. "I'd love to see it bite them in the ass."

Alek snorts. "From the way it sounds, it'd be the least they deserve. It'd serve them right."

Okay, so he may be biased, but it's pretty obvious by now Alek is firmly Team Cora.

She smiles a bit at that, because it's nice having someone on her team, but the smiles flickers and is gone pretty much almost as soon as it started. "Yeah, it probably would." It also would probably end in a mass suicide in the desert because they clung so tightly to their stupid code.

(Allison's code was better. Allison's code would always be better, because there was actually honor in it.)

"But thankfully, they're not here. I just have a whole new set of rules to learn."

Alek shakes his head in encouragement.

"You'll get the hang of it. I can't promise you it's going to be easy. In a lot of ways, I still haven't learned the rules myself. But if it helps, that means you won't be learning them alone," he says. They aren't words he would've come up with on his own - but his older brother said them to him once, and they stayed with him.

He doesn't know if it'll help Cora, but he can hope.

It does help, a little. She's grateful that she's seemed to have found a pack that's willing to take her in, even if she's not part of their kind of wolf, or even of this universe. She nods a bit in acknowledgement, before glancing around the rest of the kitchen.

"Do you have an alpha?" Werwolf rules where she's from dictate that she should at least present herself and make herself known, even if she's just getting trained by one of their wolves, not officially joining the pack ~~yet~~.

There isn't technically an alpha in the Hale household, at least, not in the way Cora is used to, but Alek has learned enough about her world to know what she is asking. "... Logan," he says after a moment. "He's the oldest of my brothers, and the one that's got his shit together. He's taken care of us ever since our mom died."

Even when he was a kid himself, he made himself responsible for all of them. Alek may not have respect for much, but it's obvious he thinks the world of Logan.

She's beginning to get the sense that a lot of things here don't work the same way. She nods for a moment, taking in that information and trying to avoid the pang that comes with thinking about Laura and the sister she lost without even knowing she was there to be found. The alpha she could have had instead of being an omega in the middle of South America on her own.

"Should I ... ask him if it's okay? Make myself known somehow?"

She doesn't know what the rules are and doesn't want to cause any problems.

Alek gives her a reassuring smile. "If you want to?" If it'll make her feel better. "But I know my brother, and I know it'll be okay."

It's not as though Alek makes friends often. That alone would be incentive.

Her head ducks a bit before shrugging. "I just ... don't really know how the rules work here. Back home, if an omega wanders into another pack's territory, you usually should ... address the alpha, state your business, all of that. Especially if you're going to be keeping to the same territory for a long time."

Alek nods slowly. "It's just ... not as official here, really. Especially not when the pack mostly consists of family. You're going to want to get to know them, of course, but they're not going to ask you to ... address them that way. We're all pack. Logan may be the one to make the decisions sometimes, but he never - there's no real hierarchy?"

She nods slowly, taking that all in. It's going to take her a while to get used to something that relaxed, but she's reached the point where she'll take whatever pack she can get. Even with her and Derek, where it was just a pack of two. (Well, two and a half if you count Peter, which Cora usually doesn't. Hence the half.)

"Okay. Just ... let me know if I'm stepping on any toes."

"Hey."

Alek reaches out with his hand to place it on top of Cora's. He doesn't mean to - or rather, he does, but it's instinctive and he isn't over thinking it - he just wants to reassure her. It's accompanied with a faint smile. "You won't. They're going to love you. Trust me."

She shouldn't.

Trust him, that is. She's just met him, and she's met far too many werewolves trying to lure her into packs with snake oil and promises of trust, wanting nothing more than to claim the honor of having one of the last living Hales among them and not really caring about Cora. She's built walls thick as stone, burying that desire for pack and family because the ones with something to offer never would have considered her anything more beyond a trophy to tote to their own honor.

But Alek asks her to trust him and for some reason she does. Maybe it's because he's a Hale already so he doesn't need her, maybe because it's a brand new world and she doesn't exactly have a whole lot of choices, or maybe it's just something about Alek that makes her believe that she can do that and it won't come back to hurt her later.

Whatever it is, she just stares at their hands for a moment, almost as though she's trying to remember the last time someone touched her for comfort, rather than the other way around. But eventually she blinks it back and nods, withdrawing her hand hand out from under his - not a rejection just needing that space when she's still figuring everything else out.

"Okay."

It doesn't come all at once.

Trust, that is. He doesn't expect her to place her life in his hands - though maybe that's exactly what he's asking - but he isn't expecting it. Those walls she's built around her, thick as stone, are far too familiar for him to not understand they come from somewhere. They come from a need of hers to survive, to protect herself.

She's wounded, whether she admits it or not, but if she's going to be part of the pack, then you take care of a wounded pack member.

Letting out a breath, he nods. "There's a spare room - several of 'em, really - if you need a place to stay."

Until she gets her bearings. Not forever, not if she doesn't want it.

She pauses for a moment, weighing her options, but it's not like she has many. She can't go back to the park and live in a den like an actual wolf - at least not while she's person shaped. She's probably going to be leaning on the new Hales a lot lately.

She doesn't have much of a choice, but she'll pay them back. One way or another.

She nods. "Thanks."

Alek nods back, bringing himself up to his feet. The pizza now left aside, he motions toward the door to lead her to said guest room, so that she can start to settle in a bit better than she has in the past weeks.

/END SCENE

彡 cora hale | teen wolf

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	✔ Cʀᴏssᴏᴠᴇʀs/AU ✔ Aᴄᴛɪᴏɴsᴘᴀᴍ ✔ Pʀᴏsᴇ	✔ Pɪᴄᴛᴜʀᴇ ᴘʀᴏᴍᴘᴛs ✔ Oᴛʜᴇʀᴡᴏʀᴅʟʏ ✔ Sᴛᴀʀᴛᴇʀs	♥ F/M, F/F ⏰ Uᴘ ᴛᴏ ᴅᴀᴛᴇ